Super Rugby’s Melbourne Rebels falls behind on tax bill, stadium fees

[GIGS20]

I think it's stating the bleedin' obvious that he does not back losers - and that is what McLennan was.

And yet he was touted as pro McLennan....Maybe it was a choice of least bad loser.

[Sheikh]

And yet he was touted as pro McLennan....Maybe it was a choice of least bad loser.

McLennan touted Twiggy as pro-MeLennon. Did Twiggy actually say he was supporting McLennon?

[shasta]

McLennan touted Twiggy as pro-MeLennon. Did Twiggy actually say he was supporting McLennon?

“Now is not the time for more disruption in the sport, but a time for rugby to band together and back the proposed centralisation reforms. We support the efforts Hamish and the existing board are making to centralise high performance and improve governance to ensure Australian rugby administration is focused on what’s best for the game, its players and fans.”

That's part of the letter the Forrest's issued.It's open to interpretation. It could be viewed as simply supporting the board's way forward and could even include the board's preferred outcome; that McHamish remain and use his expertise to benefit the game. Just not as Chair.


https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/rugby-australia-meets-to-discuss-move-to-oust-chairman-mclennan-20231118-p5el08.html

[GIGS20]

McLennan touted Twiggy as pro-MeLennon. Did Twiggy actually say he was supporting McLennon?

Fair point

[shasta]

I just read a paywalled article by John Perik, a sports journo who covers Cricket, NBL & AFL for The Age. Can only get it on my phone so I can't copy/paste it. It's an analysis of the fractured 2024 broadcast/streaming rights for sports. Cricket, NRL, AFL, Super Netball, Football, NBL, Tennis on Stan all listed. Plus NFL, NBA, MLB & NHL......

Neither Rugby, the Rebels nor Stan's coverage rate a mention. It could be the journo's bias but anyway, Phil Waugh's "major market" comments just add to the Melbourne fixation. I've never been able to figure that out. Is it just a matter of "The Storm did it, so we should too"?

[.X.]

McLennan touted Twiggy as pro-MeLennon. Did Twiggy actually say he was supporting McLennon?

The thing with Twiggy - when he has the urge - he has never once shied away from a camera. Looking down the barrel of a microphone and saying whatever is on his mind.

Unless he is quoted directly........ its full of shit

[GIGS20]

Neither Rugby, the Rebels nor Stan's coverage rate a mention. It could be the journo's bias but anyway, Phil Waugh's "major market" comments just add to the Melbourne fixation. I've never been able to figure that out. Is it just a matter of "The Storm did it, so we should too"?

Their argument is based upon one concept only
The number of people living in Melbourne.
They don't know, and probably don't care what their chances are of converting any of them into rugby watchers, let alone fans, they just know there's a lot of them.
They're also aware that Bledisloe cup matches at the MCG always sell out, but seem to be misunderstanding the reasons why.

[The InnFORCEr]

Rebels’ future cloudy as Australian rugby tackles thorny five-team question. Again.
Iain Payten
December 22, 2023 — 7.45pm


The thorny issue of whether Australia can sustain five Super Rugby franchises is set to resurface after Rugby Australia boss Phil Waugh ended a calamitous year for the code by refusing to guarantee the long-term survival of the Melbourne Rebels.

On his final day at work before a Christmas shutdown, Waugh fronted media to talk up the appointments of new director of high performance Peter Horne and, midway through next year, the return from Ireland of Australian performance guru David Nucifora, as an advisor.

The Sydney Morning Herald's Tom Decent broke the stories of Eddie Jones' defection to Japan and he was in Tokyo to confront the former wallabies coach with more evidence which backs up his reports.

After a disastrous year for Australian rugby, Horne will be tasked with restoring success to the Wallabies. A big part of that will be building a centralised system for Australia’s five Super Rugby teams.

Whether it remains five teams from 2026, however, is firmly in the air. And the Rebels appear to be one of the clubs in most danger.

Amid massive financial challenges for nearly all Super Rugby clubs, with a majority in the red, the debt problems facing the Rebels emerged this week, with the Australian Financial Review reporting the club is struggling to pay a large tax bill, and is also overdue in paying rent to AAMI Park.

The Rebels responded with confident assertions they can get through the financial squeeze, but did not deny reports their total debts are around $9 million.

With the NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies also admitting to severe financial strain – which the clubs attribute to a $1.7 million funding shortfall from Rugby Australia – the Rebels’ plight has renewed discussions about whether Australian rugby can sustain five Super Rugby teams.

It is the same vexed question asked in 2017, when Rugby Australia decided it could not afford to fund five teams and, amid great heartache, axed the Western Force. The Rebels, who had been a financial drain on RA for years, were also considered for the chop but were saved by a multi-year $20 million content deal between the Victorian government and RA (which expires in 2025).

The Force saga tore the game apart and prompted multiple court challenges, and even a Senate inquiry. But with the support of now-owner Andrew Forrest, the Force stayed alive and returned to Super Rugby in 2020, during the COVID-era restructure of the competition.

A few years on and Australian rugby finds itself back in an uncomfortably familiar position, with most teams struggling to be competitive, and all bar Queensland posting financial losses every year.

New Zealand Rugby has made it known it believes Australia should have fewer teams in Super Rugby to improve on- and off-field outcomes, and several Australian rugby figures have called for one of the five sides to be shut down.

Asked on Friday if he believed Australia could sustain five Super Rugby teams, Waugh said: “We have said we need to have presence in five markets, and our biggest markets, and so it is our intent to continue on that path. It is our intent to have five teams in five markets.”

Pressed if that meant a Super Rugby presence, Waugh added: “That’s Super Rugby presence, as we sit here today. But right now we understand there is a reset of the game and how do we look at what is the best path forward?”

In an earlier television interview on ABC News Breakfast, Waugh included the “intent” caveat and appeared to leave the door open for a reduction when asked directly if he could guarantee the Rebels’ future beyond 2025 (when the broadcast deal with Channel Nine/Stan, the publisher of this masthead, expires).

“Our intent is to have five Super Rugby teams and a presence in our biggest markets, and Melbourne is clearly one of the biggest markets,” Waugh told the ABC.

“We move through ’24, ’25 and we have a new broadcast deal in 2026 and a lot will be determined on the appetite for that broadcaster and certainly Super Rugby more broadly. Certainly, there is a lot of work to do and we keep progressing.”

The major source of financial problems, argue the clubs, is Rugby Australia cutting funding during COVID austerity and then reneging on promises to restore it. Annual RA grants of $4.9 million per club were cut to $3.2 million, and with all other costs rising every year, expanding women’s programs and falling revenue from crowds and sponsors, all clubs bar the profitable Queensland Rugby Union quickly sank into the red.

RA told club bosses last week it can’t afford to restore the missing $1.7 million. The plan to boost Super Rugby funding via an injection of $150-200 million from a private equity deal didn’t happen, and there is no desire to burn chunks of $40 million raised in debt capital on Super Rugby.

“It has been well publicised that there are financial challenges, and the introduction of the new broadcast deal for this cycle was significantly less than historically, which has put pressure on the system,” he said.

“The value attribution to Super Rugby is considerably less. When we look through the path and the revenue events of the Lions, home World Cups in ’27 and ’29, and then the debt facility that we have taken out, we need to be really disciplined as to how we spend that money, to ensure we put up as much as we possibly can in reserve, so the game is set up financially going forward.”

The Waratahs’ bacon was saved by submitting to an RA takeover in November, and the Rebels were willing to do the same until talks stalled recently. The Brumbies are also in peril but, like the Rebels, believe they can keep their head above water. The Force have the backing of Forrest.

The debate about how many teams Australia should have in Super Rugby usually centres on on-field results. Statistics show there has been a steady decline of Australian success since the Force’s inclusion in 2006, and then the Rebels in 2011. Neither side has made the Super Rugby finals, and it is a decade this year since Australia’s last Super Rugby title, with NSW in 2014.

“A maximum of four would make it better, and that’s when Australian rugby was really strong. They had three sides that were competitive every weekend in Super Rugby, which was forcing us to get better ourselves,” World Cup-winning ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said recently.

Former Wallabies No.8 Stephen Hoiles kicked the hornet’s nest when he called for fewer teams after Australia’s exit from the World Cup.

“People get really shitty when you talk about this, but is five teams helping us produce a better Wallabies program? The answer is no,” Hoiles later told this masthead.

“None of them make any money, and only one has private money. So, it’s not producing high performance for us, and it is not financially sound, why aren’t we considering change?”

Waugh said last week his focus is on improving the depth of the five Australian teams and “creative” options around opening up eligibility criteria for the clubs have been discussed. A merger between Melbourne and Canberra is not desired by any party.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...20-p5esqr.html

[The InnFORCEr]

I'm over in the Heartland of rugby visiting the folks, nobody seems to know anything at all about anything rugby except perhaps that some bloke resigned as coach after just getting the job.

[shasta]

Bloody Mungos.

[Burgs]

"The Sydney Morning Herald's Tom Decent broke the stories of Eddie Jones' defection to Japan and he was in Tokyo to confront the former wallabies coach with more evidence which backs up his reports."

Seems a petty, self serving insertion given the rest of the focus and context of the article?!
Though, that is probably an appropriate description of Decent and SMH...

[Burgs]

“A maximum of four would make it better, and that’s when Australian rugby was really strong. They had three sides that were competitive every weekend in Super Rugby, which was forcing us to get better ourselves,” World Cup-winning ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said recently.

When there was three teams there was also far less draw from oversees markets, you would have been lucky to find 10 young players of SR standard overseas. Some (maybe just me...) used to refer to Europe and especially Japan as "the Superannuation Leagues" where top line players used to go at the end of their professional pathway in Australia to top up before having to find real jobs.
Now, as I have frequently stated I know, there are in excess of 150 Australian players (Season 2022/23) in professional competitions outside of Australia.
This nonsense that by reducing teams will see a distillation of the local quality and only the bottom end and development players either go overseas or loyally return to Shute Shield is just so deluded it makes my head hurt.

[shasta]

[I]
This nonsense that by reducing teams will see a distillation of the local quality and only the bottom end and development players either go overseas or loyally return to Shute Shield is just so deluded it makes my head hurt.

You're on the money there Burgs. These simplistic views are a worry when you hear the people running the game parroting them. The reasons that players have for going to the NH are complex. What do young pro players want, apart from money? My gut feeling would be ability to play top flight Rugby for 6-8 months a year. Between their regular comps they get to play Euro Championship and if their club misses that they get to play in the Challenge. If they think they are not on the Wallabies' radar it's a powerful magnet.

[GIGS20]

“A maximum of four would make it better, and that’s when Australian rugby was really strong. They had three sides that were competitive every weekend in Super Rugby, which was forcing us to get better ourselves,” World Cup-winning ex-All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said recently.When there was three teams there was also far less draw from oversees markets, you would have been lucky to find 10 young players of SR standard overseas. Some (maybe just me...) used to refer to Europe and especially Japan as "the Superannuation Leagues" where top line players used to go at the end of their professional pathway in Australia to top up before having to find real jobs.Now, as I have frequently stated I know, there are in excess of 150 Australian players (Season 2022/23) in professional competitions outside of Australia.This nonsense that by reducing teams will see a distillation of the local quality and only the bottom end and development players either go overseas or loyally return to Shute Shield is just so deluded it makes my head hurt.

Was this the article I stopped reading when, after suggesting that the force was in constant financial strife until they were cut, then followed up with the gem that neither the force or the rebels have made a finals series ever.
Shit research like that makes anything else in the article suspect.

[jargan83]

A consortium of investors led by former Qantas chairman Leigh Clifford is attempting to acquire the Melbourne Rebels after it collapsed into administration earlier this year.

Mr Clifford, the former chief executive of Rio Tinto and father of former Melbourne Rebels director Georgia Widdup, is working with private equity and other investors to raise $30 million to invest in the Victorian rugby union team, which went into administration early this year after failing to pay millions of dollars in tax.

The consortium said it is still in discussions about moving the women’s and men’s professional club to the western suburbs and there is no guarantee a deal will go ahead. It said it had made strong progress with raising between $20 million and $30 million from private equity and that the federal government was briefed on the matter.

If successful, the club would relocate to Wyndham, a suburb that is home to one of the largest Pasifika communities in Melbourne. Matches would be played at the precinct owned by Western Melbourne Group.

Ms Widdup said the move would be a “game-change” for the sport in Victoria. “We have an exciting vision and a detailed, common-sense plan to grow the sport of rugby,” she said. “This is an opportunity to grow rugby’s grassroots supporter base and attract significant new private investment to make the game sustainable into the future.”

The Rebels entered voluntary administration one month after The Australian Financial Review revealed it was struggling to pay its tax bills and stadium fees. A creditors meeting revealed the club owed the Tax Office more than $11.5 million, and other creditors, including board directors, are owed almost $6 million.

The Rebels board is still considering legal action against the governing body, claiming it is purposefully trying to axe the number of local teams in Super Rugby.

Rugby Australia was approached for comment.

More to come

https://www.afr.com/companies/sport/...0240403-p5fh4l